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By RUDOLF EUGKEN 

Senior Professor of Philosophy in the University of Jena 



The Truth of Religion 

The Life of the Spirit 

Religion and Life 

Ethics and Modern Thought 



Ethics and Modern 
Thought 

A Theory of Their Relations 
The Deem Lectures 

Delivered in 1913 at New York University 

By 

Rudolf Eucken 

Professor of Philosophy, University of Jena 
Translated from the German Manuscript by 

Margaret von Seydewitz 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Gbe fmicfcerbocfter presa 

1913 






Copyright, 19 13 

BY 

RUDOLF EUCKEN 



Ube ftnicfeerbocfcer Qvcee, Hew HJorft 



©CI.A358185 



PREFACE 

THESE lectures, delivered at New York 
University from February 20th till 
March I, 1913, appeal less to students and 
philosophers than to the cultured public at 
large. I take this opportunity of expressing 
my sincere gratitude to the New York Uni- 
versity, and especially to Chancellor Elmer 
E. Brown, for all the kindness and interest 
shown to me during my stay in New York. 

Rudolf Eucken. 

Jena, June, 1913. 



iii 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. The Ethical Problem in the 

Present Time i 

II. The Ethical Principle . . 23 

III. A Defence of the Ethical Prin- 

ciple 43 

IV. Evolution of the Ethical Prin- 

ciple 63 

V. Morality and Religion . . 87 
VI. The Present Status of Morality 107 



I 

The Ethical Problem in the Present 
Time 



THE ETHICAL PROBLEM IN THE PRESENT TIME 

TN former times, nothing seemed more 
* plausible and more certain than morality. 
It was a tower of strength, where men sought 
refuge in the midst of all the doubts and con- 
flicts of life. This was especially the case 
during the Age of Enlightenment. Men 
were beginning to believe less absolutely in 
the religion handed down to them, but they 
clung all the more to morality. Metaphysi- 
cal speculation and theoretical endeavours 
to reveal the innermost essence of things 
encountered growing opposition, yet morality 
was welcomed as something superior to all 
complications, and valuable to all. It was 
held to be the pivot of Archimedes, which 
gives stability to the whole of life. 

In our days morality has ceased to be a 
3 



4 A Modern System of Ethics 

matter of such unquestionable certainty, 
and has been drawn into the wave of dis- 
integration which is passing over our minds. 
Formerly the scientific definition and accu- 
rate conception of morality were matters of 
contention; but it is now the fundamental 
idea of morality that is questioned. Many of 
our contemporaries are of opinion that the 
revelations of modern science and the claims 
of modern life have destroyed the foundations 
of morality and made it untenable in the old 
sense. Morality in the old sense demands 
dissociation of our aspirations from our own 
personal interest, and devotion to something 
that is esteemed higher; whenever an action 
that appears good is seen to proceed from 
selfish motives, it can no longer claim any 
moral value. There is a widespread tendency 
in modern life, to question the possibility of 
such detachment from the Ego, and to 
acknowledge the coercion exercised over 
man by his instinct of self-preservation. 
Emancipation from this restraint is not even 
considered desirable, for constant strife and 



The Present Time 5 

competition seem necessary to life and pro- 
gress, and a softening of this strife would 
inevitably reduce the energy of life. 

Morality further demands independence 
and spontaneity of action. An action per- 
formed under the pressure of external coer- 
cion or mechanical habit, loses immediately 
its moral character. Now such independence 
and spontaneity are not possible apart from 
some kind of free choice, yet this would con- 
tradict the law of causality, which in the 
present age is generally considered to rule 
the whole of reality. In man's soul, the 
supremacy of this law of causality is strength- 
ened by our growing insight into the power 
of heredity and of social environment. Yet 
morality in the old sense stands and falls 
with man's power of spontaneous and 
independent decision. 

It is difficult also for morality to retain in 
modern life the position and estimation it 
formerly enjoyed. It used to be invested 
with unique significance, and placed high 
above all other manifestations of the inner 



6 A Modern System of Ethics 

life. This conviction found its strongest 
expression at times of great historical import. 
We all remember the words of Jesus : i ' What 
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul?" The same 
conviction is expressed in philosophical 
language by the greatest antique philosopher 
and the greatest modern philosopher: Plato 
and Kant. Plato says: "All the gold on 
the earth and under the earth is less precious 
than virtue." Kant says: "If righteous- 
ness should perish, it would not be worth 
while for men to inhabit the earth." 

But this conviction of the absolute su- 
premacy of the moral task requires an inner 
gradation of life, for which modern condi- 
tions offer no scope. For modern life sub- 
ordinates all aspiration and endeavour to the 
aim of enhancing the process of life. Every 
action is valued as a means to this end; and 
morality could only hold its own as an instru- 
ment of human welfare. But such degra- 
dation of morality would mean annihilation 
of morality. The present time is not entirely 



The Present Time 7 

dominated by such a movement against 
morality, only a few currents of thought are 
so absolute in their negation of ethical 
claims. But these currents could never have 
attained the strength and expansion they 
undoubtedly exhibit, if in our day morality 
were more securely established and more 
distinctly formulated. It is the want of 
union in moral ideals (never before so strong- 
ly marked) which gives added power to the 
enemies of morality. 

There are to-day no less than four kinds 
of morality, often crossing and opposing each 
other, which claim men's allegiance. These 
are: 

Religious Morality, 

The Morality of Reason or of immanent 
idealism, 

The Morality of Work, 

Social Morality. 

Religious Morality and the Morality of 
Reason have come down to us from past 
ages, and grow out of an inner world of 



8 A Modern System of Ethics 

thought. The Morality of Work and Social 
Morality are specific results of the present 
time, growing out of work in a visible world 
of realities. The two older forms of morality 
form an antithesis to the two newer forms, 
as will hereafter be seen. 

The most effectual kind of morality is still 
the religious one — for us, the morality associ- 
ated with Christianity, the religion of ethical 
redemption. Christianity, which is founded 
on a holy will superior to the world, exalts 
moral action far above arbitrary human choice 
and human aim. It completely severs moral 
action from all natural inclination, dissociates 
it from all external performance, and gives it a 
purely spiritual character. It supplies a most 
powerful impulse to action, by connecting 
man's destiny with his attitude to his moral 
obligations. The awakening and ennobling 
power inherent in Christianity was not con- 
fined to individuals, but was embodied in a 
large section of the human race, creating a 
spiritual atmosphere which still acts power- 
fully on individual souls, even if they them- 



The Present Time 9 

selves are not conscious of it. Religious 
morality still continues to influence us in 
this way. All other kinds of morality could 
not be as effectual as they are, were they not 
constantly supplemented and deepened by 
religious morality. 

And yet we cannot ignore the fact that in 
our day the supremacy of religious morality 
is often contested. The world of religion 
no longer encompasses man as a matter of 
course, and this also weakens its moral in- 
fluence. At the same time many objections 
are raised against the nature and demands of 
religious morality. Owing to the closer 
connection between man's endeavour and his 
environment and to the accentuation of the 
struggle for existence, this kind of morality 
appears too mild, too soft, too subjective, and 
there is often a desire for a sterner and more 
virile kind. Religious ethics do not seem 
to have sufficient latitude to transform the 
whole of life. We can therefore understand 
the widespread desire for something which 
can sufficiently supplement religious ethics. 



io A Modern System of Ethics 

At all periods of higher civilisation, re- 
ligious morality has been supplemented and 
completed by the morality of reason, which 
was developed above all by the philosophers, 
from the Stoics down to Kant and Fichte. 
Here morality does not proceed from a 
superior and divine will, but from man's 
own reasonable nature. This nature seems 
to demand recognition of a universal law, 
and voluntary submission to it; only then 
does man bring his own being to perfection. 
The morality arising herefrom is strong and 
manly ; it incites man to a proud independ- 
ence of spirit, and exalts him far above every- 
day life. To this morality of reason we owe 
the scientific development of the moral 
world of thought, and the distinct formula- 
tion of conceptions like Duty and Con- 
science. By means of such conceptions, the 
morality of reason also influences our own 
time, without however taking the lead, as 
it did during the Age of Enlightenment. 
The idea of reason as the sure foundation of 
our spiritual life is no longer universally 



The Present Time n 

accepted, and has little influence on the man 
of to-day. He is too fully conscious of his 
subordination to the world of sense, of which 
he is a member, to be able to enfranchise 
himself completely from it, and to assert 
his own superior power. The rationalistic 
conception of life reckons with strong, self- 
centred personalities, who, as we know, do 
not abound in our time. 

Morality could not be in close touch with 
the movements and problems of the present 
day, if — either as religious or as rational 
morality — it were inseparable from belief in 
an invisible world. But the latest develop- 
ment of life supplies morality with valuable 
motives derived from the visible world, and 
even creates new specific forms of morality. 
On the one hand, the impulse comes from 
modern work; on the other hand, from 
modern society. In both cases, we have 
forces that were always at work, but that 
gain considerable significance from the condi- 
tions of modern life. 

All really earnest work is directed towards 



12 A Modern System of Ethics 

some object which it seeks to penetrate; it 
impels us to value the object for its own sake, 
and to treat it according to its own require- 
ments. Man is thus exalted above his own 
personal opinion and inclination. Only in 
modern times has work reached its full 
development as a factor of education and of 
moral culture. For work has now become 
more and more independent of separate 
individuals ; it is becoming a concern common 
to all mankind, and it forms its own great 
complexes. Such a complex is modern sci- 
ence. It is no longer dependent on individ- 
uals, but has formed a fabric of its own. In 
accordance with the development it has 
attained, science dictates to individuals the 
channels and methods of their work, pre- 
sents problems to be solved, and indicates 
the means of their solution. The individual 
works in vain, if he detaches himself from the 
movement of the whole. His enrolment 
in the movement of the whole imparts to 
life a distinctly ethical character. For the 
individual must subordinate himself com- 



The Present Time 13 

pletely to the demands of the whole; he must 
repress everything bearing upon his own will 
and desire; he must feel that his own efforts 
are part of the great sum of human endeav- 
our, the promotion of which must be his 
highest satisfaction. Single workers come 
and go, but through the work of generations 
the proud edifice of science is ever growing. 
As Bacon says: " Multi pertransibunt et 
augebitur sciential (Many will pass by, 
and science will grow.) 

What applies to science is equally true 
of the other provinces of life. In modern 
times, mighty complexes are everywhere 
springing up, which encompass individuals 
with their superior power. We see this 
above all in technical and industrial work, 
but also in state organisation, in education 
with its schools and so forth. All these 
finally unite in the comprehensive concep- 
tion of civilisation and culture, — in the idea 
of man's supremacy over the world by means 
of his work. 

It is evident that a strong moral force is 



14 A Modern System of Ethics 

here engendered. Without this ethical 
factor, without a constant enrolment and 
subordination, modern civilisation could 
never have reached its present development. 
Yet we cannot deny that this morality of 
work has inner limitations. The technical 
side of work does indeed repress and even 
destroy all individual will; but it is an open 
question in what temper the work is done, 
whether from love to the work or from petty 
and selfish motives. It is quite possible for 
a petty and narrow frame of mind to be 
accompanied by the greatest technical skill. 
Further work spurs on towards achieve- 
ment, and the worker is judged by what he 
achieves. What becomes of his inner life, 
of his whole personality, is a matter of in- 
difference. Here we are only parts of a 
structure, and are nothing at all in ourselves. 
This must become so more and more in pro- 
portion as work is specialised, and vitalises 
an ever smaller part of the individual's 
powers. Moreover the union of men which 
in this direction takes place, is only confined 



The Present Time 15 

to their common work. However closely 
connected they may be through their work, 
their individual principles and convictions 
can be very different, if not absolutely 
hostile. It is, in our day, above all, the social 
problem, which divides men into hostile 
factions. In one special direction — that of 
work — there is an ethical development of 
life; but we cannot base on it an inner entity 
of right and humanity. The morality thus 
developed is cold and impersonal; it lacks 
inner warmth, and cannot appeal to the 
whole personality. 

In this respect, social morality is infinitely 
superior to the morality of work. For social 
morality proceeds from the immediate re- 
lation of man to man. Here also, something 
old and familiar acquires a new form and 
stronger influence. It was an old conviction 
that man could only develop in connection 
with his fellow-men, towards whom his 
activity was mainly directed. But what has 
re-cast the idea of society in a new mould, 
is the modern doctrine that men are not 



1 6 A Modern System of Ethics 

united by their common relation to an 
invisible world — ruled either by a Divine 
Being or by an all-pervading Reason — but 
by their actual living together in the realm 
of experience. This modern doctrine points 
out that individuals not only meet during the 
course of their life, but that they are inter- 
dependent from the very beginning, — that 
union and life with others is a fundamental 
necessity for every human being. In develop- 
ing this idea, modern sociology shows, by 
means of innumerable statistics, how the na- 
ture and welfare of the individual depends 
upon the condition of the whole. It tries to 
prove that all progress — even for the individual 
— is inseparable from the amelioration of the 
community at large ; such amelioration there- 
fore becomes the main object of endeavour. 
Modern sociology at the same time advocates 
the idea of a common responsibility, a solidar- 
ity of all human life and action. Strong mo- 
tives are thus offered to the individual to 
direct his activity, beyond his own personal 
interest, towards the welfare of all, and to 



The Present Time 17 

find in work for the welfare of others — in 
"altruistic" action — the highest value of life. 
The "social" ethics thus developed are 
further enhanced by the growing conviction 
that the traditional form of life in the com- 
munity is capable — nay needful — of funda- 
mental changes. Formerly the structure 
of society was above all aristocratic in 
character. The conduct of life was in the 
hands of a small minority. They alone 
acquired full development of all their powers 
and full possession of earthly goods, which 
the rest could only enjoy in part and through 
the agency of the favoured few. This 
division of mankind appeared to be too 
firmly established by the divine will or by a 
mysterious destiny for human endeavour to 
try and alter it. The modern man, in the 
consciousness of his power, by no means 
considers these things incapable of change. 
For him, it is a sublime task to suppress such 
distinctions, and to let "all that bears human 
features" (Fichte) participate in the work 
and enjoyment of life. 



18 A Modern System of Ethics 

We can here discuss neither the possi- 
bility of solving this problem in all its 
bearings, nor the complications resulting 
therefrom. But we cannot deny the strong 
ethical stimulus of such a movement. It 
has resulted in an eager desire to strengthen 
the weak, to raise aspiring spirits, to oppose 
injustice, to eradicate suffering as far as 
possible, and to increase the enjoyment of 
life. In all this, there is much warmth and 
vigour, a strong feeling of responsibility, 
and recognition of the rights of others. / No 
other ethical force so strongly influences 
the men of to-day, as the social idea] y we see 
this in legislation, in education, in every 
relation of man to man. This idea coun- 
teracts egoism, and produces such a wealth of 
humane action, as was hardly ever witnessed 
at any period of the world's history. 

But even here, in spite of so much that is 
admirable, inner limitations are evident. Life 
and morality are concentrated on activity for 
others. But this activity is more for man's 
external welfare than for that of his soul, — 



The Present Time 19 

more for the conditions of life than for life 
itself. Inner problems find too often only a 
secondary consideration and the personality 
as a whole is apt to be neglected. This 
morality of social activity believes in the 
existence of goodwill and its growth by means 
of external activity, and takes human virtue 
for granted. But it has nothing to offer that 
could allay the inner conflicts, or could over- 
come the dark, wild, and passionate element 
in man's soul. Nor does this kind of morality 
sufficiently realise what complications and 
passions are inseparable from life in the 
community: the strife for power and su- 
premacy, the vanity and unreality which arise 
and rapidly spread among its members. 
Social morality shows a very optimistic con- 
ception of man, which is often contradicted 
by experience. However great therefore 
the merits of social morality may be in one 
special direction, it takes up the problem too 
superficially, and offers no firm foundation 
for morality, which it presupposes rather 
than creates. 



20 A Modern System of Ethics 

Morality to-day thus appears to be ac- 
companied by much confusion and many 
complications. There is no lack of separate 
developments, but these cross and oppose 
each other. What one kind of morality 
takes to be its chief source of strength, appears 
to another to be mere weakness. The inner 
and spiritual character of the older forms is 
condemned by the younger forms as a sub- 
jective illusion, while the unremitting 
activity of the latter seem to their opponents 
to be an exclusive concentration on external 
work. Life as a whole has become un- 
certain to us in its deepest aspects; and we 
are no longer satisfied with the moral im- 
pulses coming from the life around us. We 
hesitate between absolutely different kinds 
of morality, which can only fully develop 
their individual characteristics by injuring 
one another; this must inevitably weaken 
the influence of morality on the whole of life. 
At the same time, movements hostile to 
morality encounter less opposition, and gain 
ground in spite of their inherent super- 



The Present Time 21 

ficiality. Morality, once an undoubted pos- 
session of mankind, has thus come to be a 
difficult problem ; instead of ruling over man 
from the height of its superiority, it seems 
now to depend on his opinion and choice. 

The condition of things resulting herefrom 
is becoming more and more unendurable. 
If morality is weakened, then life is robbed 
of a strong impulse, an ennobling power, and 
a dominant aim; it is in danger of inner 
insignificance and disintegration. The salt 
of life is then lacking, which alone can keep 
it fresh and healthy, and with all its outer 
brilliancy, it is threatened with inner decay. 
If we are to resist this danger with all our 
might, then science must help to overcome 
the uncertainty and want of concentration 
so characteristic of our time, and to gain 
full recognition of morality as a whole. To 
do this, it is above all necessary to find some 
point of view whence we can successfully 
combat this disintegration. 

We shall therefore have to consider first of 
all how such a point of view may be attained. 



II 

The Ethical Principle 



23 



II 

THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 

HTHE intricate situation of to-day neces- 
* sarily incites us to reflection. We 
must consider our life as a whole; we must 
ask ourselves whether human existence com- 
prises various kinds and gradations of life, 
and whether a task thus arises which em- 
braces all man's endeavour. There can be no 
doubt that human life is not confined to one 
single plane, — that all variety of endeavour 
does not easily unite to form a definite entity, 
but that heterogeneous elements meet and 
mingle in man. 

Man at first appears to be part of nature, 
of the world of sense, subject to its laws and 
impulses. Dim and unreasonable instincts 
pervade man's soul with compelling force. 
Our conceptions grow out of sense impres- 
ts 



26 A Modern System of Ethics 

sions, and form at first the purely mechanical 
concatenation which we term " association/' 
while all our efforts are directed towards 
individual self-preservation. In all this, 
man is entirely within the limitations of 
nature. Yet though this natural life at 
first predominates, it does not represent the 
whole of our life. We become aware of new 
features, which we characterise as "spirit- 
ual." We see how man grows independent 
of his environment, and strives to subdue it 
from without and within. By thought he 
frees himself from the shackles of his en- 
vironment, and asserts himself against the 
whole world; at the same time he is driven 
back to the world, and feels impelled to 
fathom it and to make it his own by personal 
experience. His actions do not always re- 
main a mere part of nature's concatenations. 
He can detach himself from all cohesion. 
In unbridled egoism he can subordinate every 
event and action to his own well-being; or 
he can absorb into himself all that at first 
existed beside him and apart from him, and 



The Ethical Principle 27 

that often appeared hostile, and can thus 
manifest boundless love and sympathy. 
His natural instinct of self-preservation will 
then appear too small and insignificant; 
he can even come to feel its narrow restric- 
tions as intolerable. 

If we pass from the individual to the whole 
of mankind, we see in civilisation and culture 
a new form of life opposed to mere nature. 
For man is no longer swayed and ruled by 
what assails him from without, but he con- 
fronts it with new aims and ideals. He 
judges and weighs; he approves and rejects; 
he forms new complexes, like those of state 
organisation and of science. In all this, man 
is the representative of a new and specific 
kind of life; he manifests an independence 
unknown to nature. 

This new life differs from nature and from 
what may be attained on the basis of nature, 
not only in single characteristics, but in all 
its manifestations and even in its funda- 
mental essence. Nature forms a tissue of 
separate elements, which come into recip- 



28 A Modern System of Ethics 

rocal action but lack all inner cohesion. 
Great complexes are thus formed, but no 
combination amounts to real cohesion : there 
is no inner whole, and no life proceeding from 
such an inner entity. 

All life grows out of contact with the en- 
vironment; therefore intellectual participa- 
tion is indissolubly bound to the world of 
sense. In this life of nature, the intellect can 
create no conceptions independent of sense 
impressions, and action cannot free itself from 
the power of natural impulse. All inner 
values can here be nothing more than an 
accessory and reminiscence of what reaches 
us from without. 

We see something essentially different, 
wherever spiritual life develops. Here life 
is not decomposed into a multitude of 
separate particles, but inner cohesions are 
formed, which embrace and dominate all 
achievement of individual beings. This is 
especially the case when human thought 
aspires towards Truth. Every individual 
has his own sum of conceptions and his own 



The Ethical Principle 29 

special associations; but he does not pos- 
sess a truth of his own. All search for truth 
is based on the conviction that something 
must be acquired which is common to all men, 
and which embraces and governs them all. 
Aspiration thus extends far beyond separate 
individuals. We have here not a discon- 
nected mass of assertion and dogma; all is 
gathered into a well ordered cohesion, and 
all separate efforts result in progression 
to the whole. Every kind of intellectual 
endeavour presents a similar situation. 
Thus the Good and the Beautiful are not 
values confined to single individuals; every 
man striving after them, only contributes 
towards the sum of common endeavour, and 
what he wins for himself is at the same time 
a gain for all. Aspiration is not confined to a 
limited number of separate results, but the 
manifestation of a great whole is sought for : 
a comprehensive realm of the good and the 
beautiful. 

Once the mind is thus concentrated on the 
whole, greater spiritual independence in- 



30 A Modern System of Ethics 

evitably ensues. For it is necessary to rise 
above the sense impression and constantly 
to assert the autonomy of the soul, if aspira- 
tion from the whole and to the whole is to 
be successfully developed. From being a 
mere accessory, the soul now becomes in all 
respects a source of independent life. In 
science ideas gain a significance of their 
own, apart from the impressions of sense; 
they develop their own laws, and react with 
transforming power on what they have ab- 
sorbed, as we see in the case of mathematics. 
Our own mind supplies the forms in which 
we shape our world. Feeling also frees it- 
self from sense impressions. Sense enjoy- 
ment no longer suffices for man's happiness. 
His relation to other human beings does not 
remain confined to external contact; pity 
and love can embrace the whole of man- 
kind, as is proved by the great religions. 
We can no longer doubt man's capacity 
of aspiring to values far beyond external 
possessions; and his inner life, the develop- 
ment of his own individual personality may 



The Ethical Principle 31 

become a matter of paramount importance 
to him. 

But this inner life, with all its distinct 
manifestations, can cope successfully with 
the outer world and its forcible inroads, only 
by developing an inner realm which it ex- 
tends to an independent world of its own. 
This does in reality take place. What was 
at first beside us and apart from us, can be 
transferred to the soul without merging into 
it. The antithesis between internal and 
external values, which at first seemed to 
disintegrate life, can be overcome, if spiritual 
endeavour absorbs the object and brings it 
into reciprocal action with spiritual forces. 
Where spiritual development is at its highest, 
life does not fluctuate between the subjective 
and objective, but unites both in itself, brings 
them into reciprocal action, and develops one 
by means of the other. Such a triumph over 
antitheses is to be seen most clearly in the 
province of art. Art is not merely capable 
of copying external objects as exactly as 
possible, or of rendering with the greatest 



32 A Modern System of Ethics 

possible truth the feeling of the individual: 
really great art must embrace both factors 
and blend them to a perfect unity. This is 
how a real work of art is created, which then 
gives to life an inner expansion and a new 
reality. 

As in art, so also in the other provinces 
human life. In the mutual relation of man 
to man, the spiritual phase by no means does 
away with all distinctions, but it exalts us 
above them, and embraces them all from a 
higher point of view. Individuals are not to 
be merged in a hazy and colourless whole, 
but in rising towards a higher life an inner 
communion becomes possible, within which 
even what is alien becomes to a certain ex- 
tent our own. This enables men to under- 
stand each other, to put themselves in the 
place of one another, to find themselves in 
others. Man acquires in such communion a 
vaster self, which is not dependent on one 
tiny atom, but has a whole world of its own. 

If scientific research is not to degenerate 
into barren scepticism, it must also overcome 



The Ethical Principle 33 

the antithesis of the subjective and the ob- 
jective. To do this, it assimilates external 
objects by means of thought, and strives to 
embrace at the same time both the inner man 
and the outer world, developing one by means 
of the other. 

We observe everywhere this tendency to 
subject everything to the operation of 
spiritual forces — to create and develop an 
inner world. Here all problems are confined 
to life itself, which is no longer concerned 
with extraneous matters, but with itself 
alone. In this inner world, life develops in 
its own way; it finds its aims and ideals in 
itself, in its own perfection, in its complete 
triumph over the antitheses it embraces. 

How are we to interpret this new life and 
its origin? It cannot have proceeded from 
that nature inferior to man, from which it 
differs even in its most elementary funda- 
mental forms. It cannot be a creation of man 
alone, in whom — as experience proves — it is 
far too weak, too much alloyed with lower 
and sensual elements, for a new gradation of 



34 A Modern System of Ethics 

life to originate in him. Nothing therefore 
remains but to recognise in this inward 
tendency a movement of the universe — a 
movement in which man is privileged to par- 
ticipate, but which he could never engender 
from out of his own nature. The recognition 
of such a movement completely changes the 
aspect of reality. The universe now seems 
to embrace two planes, and to be rising — at 
least as far as humanity is concerned — from 
one plane to the other. A new light is cast 
on reality, which ceases to be a collection 
of separate and non-cohesive elements, and 
becomes capable of comprehensive operation 
and of self-concentration. We realise that 
what at first appeared to be the whole of 
reality was only its outer aspect, which is 
supplemented by the new depth revealed to 
us. It is only the development of these 
depths that gives life its real significance; 
values come into existence which lie beyond 
the natural instinct of self-preservation — 
such values as the good, the true, and the 
beautiful. 



The Ethical Principle 35 

Let us now see how this order of things 
strikes and influences man. The new phase 
of life at first appears — in man — only in a 
few individual operations, while his life and 
aspiration are still mainly determined by 
nature and natural self-preservation. A 
certain spirituality does indeed appear wher- 
ever there is human life, yet only as some- 
thing subordinate, as an accessory to another 
kind of life, but without the autonomy 
necessary to a comprehensive and self- 
centred whole, which could develop its own 
specific character. If man is to participate 
in the movement of the universe and bring 
the spiritual into full operation in himself, 
this autonomy of the spiritual life is of para- 
mount importance. It can only develop 
where a movement reaches man from the 
universe, embraces him, and determines his 
further course. But, at the same time, man 
must recognise and seize this impulse, thus 
taking possession of this new life. We have 
seen that what used to be considered of 
secondary importance, is now of paramount 



36 A Modern System of Ethics 

value. This requires a reversion of the 
original order of things, a readjustment of 
the values of life. We have not to realise 
any new achievement within a given sphere 
of activity, or to further develop existing 
conditions ; we have to acquire an essentially 
new life. 

The requirements thus formulated lead to a 
system of ethics. Its fundamental doctrine 
is man's power to rise by free action to the 
higher plane of cosmic life, and to develop 
it with all the strength of his soul. We have 
shown that the new object of our endeavour is 
not something unfamiliar that suddenly in- 
vades our consciousness. For it is the work- 
ing within us of some spiritual force, that 
exalts us above the animal world to the 
status of human beings. But the spiritual 
life undergoes an essential change, as soon as 
it acquires autonomy within us. As long as 
it was held to be of secondary importance, it 
was chiefly appreciated as a means towards 
human ends: spiritual forces were to give 
us more power over external realities, and 



The Ethical Principle 37 

fuller enjoyment of life, but we did not pene- 
trate into the life of the spirit and there find a 
new world. If we do this in accordance with 
the transformation of life we have been 
considering, great results will soon appear. 
In science and art, as well as in law and 
morality, our efforts will be accompanied 
by such strength, devotion, and gladness as 
we never before experienced. We shall 
operate with the laws and powers inherent 
in the things themselves; we shall become 
indifferent to outer profit and success, and 
shall find full satisfaction in the manifesta- 
tion of genuine spiritual life, in spite of the 
trials and difficulties it may offer. If the 
spiritual life can thus grow towards perfec- 
tion, undisturbed by human aims, it will 
manifest all its values in rich and pure 
abundance; it will reveal a new world, and 
will open up a new depth of reality. We 
thus take possession of a world which exalts 
us far above all petty human considerations, 
yet which is not alien and unfamiliar to us, 
but is essentially our own life and being. 



38 A Modern System of Ethics 

With autonomy, the spiritual life also 
gains more unity. As at first manifested in 
human life, it is divided into a variety of 
separate branches — such as art, science, law, 
technical knowledge — which lack all inner 
cohesion and mutual understanding. If the 
autonomy of the spiritual life reveals a new 
phase of reality, it must also form a compre- 
hensive whole, of which all the separate 
provinces are but the various manifesta- 
tions. They themselves now appear in a 
new light, and every province must deter- 
mine its position and significance in the 
whole, and must submit to the operation of 
the forces proceeding from the whole. This 
will give more depth and more soul to the 
activity in each separate province, while 
all will seek to come into closer touch and 
to supplement one another. 

All this implies a great task for man. He 
is an imperfect and unfinished being, full of 
contradictions. He has to seek and achieve 
genuine life; he must penetrate from the 



The Ethical Principle 39 

sphere of effects to that of their causes; he 
must recognise the great cosmic movement 
as a personal concern of his own, and must 
thus give meaning and value to his life and 
aspiration. 

We have here a matter of vast import. 
Not only must the new world be recognised 
and taken possession of by the individual, but 
a new order of things, valid for all humanity, 
must be created and triumphantly asserted 
against an entirely different order of things. 
Instead of the mere juxtaposition which the 
world of sense at first presents to us, we must 
establish inner cohesion in society and history. 
The efforts of all humanity must supplement 
the visible world, to which we remain bound, 
by an invisible one, and must make of this 
invisible world the chief seat of human life. 
While time is forever flowing onward, per- 
manent truths and values of life must be 
found, which can sustain from within all 
aspiration and endeavour. We human 
beings must realise a higher life within given 
natural conditions; and to do this, we have 



40 A Modern System of Ethics 

first to create and establish a new order of 
things within our own sphere of existence. 
This transforms our life into a never ending 
task, but also imparts to it an incomparable 
greatness. While thus striving forward, the 
individual must first of all submerge himself 
in the new world as a whole, until he finds 
there his true life, his real and higher self. 
A complete negation of the little Ego and 
emancipation from it are requisite. This 
does not mean that the individual is to dis- 
appear and be absorbed by the infinite. The 
infinite becomes a living present at this 
special point, and the individual must take 
possession of it and assert it. He must also 
promote the forward movement of life, and 
must enrich reality by the culture of a 
spiritual individuality, very different from 
the one nature has given him. This spiritual 
individuality can only develop on the basis 
of the spiritual life, from which it takes its 
aims and standards; and it must always 
be in harmony with the movement of the 
whole. 



The Ethical Principle 41 

It is evident that all these factors have laid 
the foundations for a system of ethics. As 
we have seen, life as a whole challenges man 
to a great change, to a decision, an action, 
but also to unremitting work for the establish- 
ment of a new order of things. That which 
gives us human beings our pre-eminence and 
constitutes our innermost essence is not to 
be gained without our own efforts, and per- 
vades our life as a continuous task. We 
may call the morality arising thence the 
Ethics of the Spiritual Life, for the centre 
of life and its ruling motive lie in man's 
relation to a superior spiritual life, which is 
at the root of his own being and yet has to 
be acquired by his own action and effort. 
Morality represents the principles under- 
lying this great change. Morality grasps the 
question as a whole. Morality elucidates 
the fact that all the variety of work is domi- 
nated by strife for a spiritual self, a strife 
which can only be successful if the original 
situation is reversed. 

We must now try to determine more 



42 A Modern System of Ethics 

closely what form these ethics are to take, 
and whether they are able to overcome the 
objections which confront every kind of 
morality. 



Ill 

A Defence of the Ethical Principle 



43 



Ill 

A DEFENCE OF THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 

DEFORE we proceed further in the di- 
^^rection indicated, we must see whether our 
own convictions are capable of overcoming 
the opposition and impediments to morality, 
presented by widespread currents of con- 
temporary thought. Were we unable to 
overcome them, then all further advance 
would be stamped by inner uncertainty. 

The first objection was, that all human 
action must tend to the preservation and 
advancement of the performer, so that action 
apart from self-interest, as required by 
morality, is impossible. We are told that 
man cannot be inspired and moved to action 
by any aim outside his own personality, and 
that even where this appears to be the case, 
closer examination reveals some hidden 

45 



46 A Modern System of Ethics 

motive of self-interest. This was the 
doctrine of Spinoza and is now a widespread 
conviction. There is undoubtedly some 
truth in the fundamental idea, but it is by 
no means certain that this truth is rightly 
applied. It is true that all endeavour must 
start from the life and being of a man and 
reflect back on him. Something absolutely 
alien would necessarily leave us cold and 
indifferent ; by his action man must in some 
way grow and gain and assert his own inner 
self. 

But we must ask ourselves whether the 
natural Ego, to which the opponent of 
morality binds all human action, represents 
the whole of man's life, and whether all 
endeavour is obliged to serve the interests 
of natural self-preservation. If a man recog- 
nises any kind of spiritual activity in its 
specific working, he will reject such limita- 
tion; and the more he sees in the spiritual 
life a new and independent phase of reality, 
the more decisively will he declare that a 
real self is not contained in the natural Ego, 



A Defence 47 

but must first be acquired by means of the 
spiritual life. In spite of all the subjective 
force and passion displayed in the self-pre- 
servation of the natural Ego, this Ego and 
its life are without inner significance: it 
plans and acts, without being absorbed and 
illuminated by an inner force; it remains 
alien and dense. 

On the spiritual plane, on the other hand, 
man acquires an individuality, and is able to 
embrace a whole of reality, into the life of 
which he submerges himself; and in develop- 
ing this life, he is able to find full satisfaction 
and joy. The spiritual life does indeed de- 
mand repression, subjection, and even sacri- 
fice of the little Ego; yet the experience of 
humanity clearly proves that life thereby 
suffers neither degradation nor disintegra- 
tion, but rather, that it is thus strengthened 
and regenerated. Life is certainly not weak- 
ened or extinguished in the efforts to gain 
truth and beauty, in the activity of the 
scholar and the artist, in social and philan- 
thropic work. By enfranchisement from 






48 A Modern System of Ethics 

the little Ego, life has gained in expansion 
and strength. Man is conscious of finding 
his real self and of developing his innermost 
being in such work, not of promoting ends 
outside himself. All deeper religions and 
systems of philosophy have in common this 
requirement that man should give up his 
little Ego, and they promise that from this 
renunciation a new life shall be born, which 
is of infinitely greater meaning and value 
than the old life. The movement towards 
spirituality is not a mere negation, but leads 
to an assertion founded on the basis of 
negation. Once man has found the right 
plane of life, and has acquired a new individu- 
ality, the gulf between man and the universe 
is bridged over. Man can then come into 
inner relation with reality, and can take 
possession of the infinite. This is the mean- 
ing of Goethe's lines : 

Und so lang du dies nicht hast, 
Dieses "Stirb und Werde!" 
Bist du nur ein truber Gast 
Auf der dunklen Erde. 



A Defence 49 

(Till thou hearest the behest 
Saying: " Death is Birth !" 
Thou art but a dreary guest 
On the gloomy earth.) 

If this is the case, then all spiritual work 
contributes to the development of a new, 
real self; then no blame can be attached to 
morality for advocating the absolute ne- 
cessity of this change, and for recognising, in 
all ramifications of work, the one great task 
of developing a new human individuality. 
Morality will not thereby weaken and sup- 
press the impulse of life, but will direct it 
into the right channel and ennoble it. By 
treating man's task as a harmonious whole — 
which at the same time forms part of the 
one great entity — it will act as a stimulus 
on all the separate provinces of life. The 
gravity of this ethical task is heightened by 
the fact, that we must pass through a nega- 
tive stage in order to reach one of positive 
affirmation, and that all action which denies 
or obscures such negation, remains one-sided 
and imperfect. 



50 A Modern System of Ethics 

Closely allied to this first objection to 
morality is the second: the assertion of the 
Determinists that human action is but 
part of an immutable concatenation, and 
that the decision of the moment arises, with 
inevitable necessity, from what is and what 
has been. This is an old assertion, reaching 
back to the latter days of antiquity. It 
has frequently aroused men to passion in 
the domain of religion. It permeates modern 
philosophy, and has found classical expres- 
sion in the doctrine of Spinoza. In our day, 
it is often confirmed by a more careful study 
of the universe. Favourable to Determinism 
is also our modern insight into such forces 
as heredity and social environment, and our 
greater knowledge of psychology. Every- 
where the single atom appears as the result 
of some cohesion, of which it at the same 
time forms part. Closer observation only 
accentuates such dependence; we can no 
longer consider a separate atom or moment 
as something absolutely self-centred, nor 
can we interpret any action as really taking 



A Defence 51 

place suddenly. There exists, without 
doubt, more cohesion and more subordina- 
tion than was formerly believed, or is often 
accepted even now. 

However legitimate these considerations 
may be, it does not follow that they exhaust 
all the possibilities offered by reality. If 
we declare that man is completely absorbed 
in such concatenation, we must assume 
what is by no means unassailable: that man 
is simply part of a given order of things, of 
a natural mechanism, of a network of 
causality. Were he in reality no more 
than this, there would be no possibility of 
his own decision, no freedom of action, and 
consequently no morality. This would de- 
stroy, not morality alone, but much that 
its opponents could not well give up. If 
our life were merely part of a natural 
mechanism, it would necessarily cease to be 
our own life; it would be only a process 
realised in us without our co-operation, and 
our attitude to it would resemble our atti- 
tude to our bodily functions. It is difficult 



52 A Modern System of Ethics 

to see how we could then be made responsible 
by society, or how we could ourselves feel 
any responsibility, — how such conceptions 
as those of good and evil could come into 
existence and engross our attention. Neither 
would there be any real present, for if there 
is no demand for decision, and no room for 
original action, all action would, with in- 
evitable necessity, grow out of the past, 
like a flower out of its bud, without our 
co-operation. 

We might be able to endure such deter- 
mination of our life for all time, if the various 
movements could easily meet and mingle 
in our soul, without any complications. 
But if our life contains great problems, 
grave conflicts, various and often opposed 
planes, then we human beings, did we submit 
passively and unresistingly, would be chained 
like Prometheus to a pitiless rock. Deter- 
minism, if followed to its logical conclusion, 
is nothing less than inner annihilation of life. 

Such recognition necessarily brings us to 
the question whether the hypothesis held by 



A Defence 53 

the Determinists is unassailable. Do we 
really appertain absolutely to a given and 
distinctly limited existence? From the point 
of view of a new plane of reality mani- 
fested by the spiritual life, our reply must 
be a decided negative. As we have seen, 
this new phase does not embrace us from the 
beginning, but must be grasped, appropriated, 
and developed by us; our own decision and 
action are here indispensable. Our life must 
indeed reckon with certain given factors; 
we must recognise the powerful influence of 
heredity and environment. Our individual- 
ity is determined for us by nature ; we cannot 
in all things remould ourselves as we would 
wish to do; we are on all sides encompassed 
by fate. But man is not entirely at the 
mercy of this fate. The spiritual life which 
can grow up in him gives him a new, spon- 
taneous source of life ; he can originate some- 
thing new, something entirely his own, and 
can oppose his own action to fate. 

Our life thus becomes a struggle between 
freedom and fate; and to this struggle it 



54 A Modern System of Ethics 

chiefly owes its expansion and greatness. 
The idea of development is therefore not 
applicable to the progression of human life. 
There is no inevitable sequence on a well 
established basis and in one definite direction ; 
later results are not simply determined by 
what has gone before; one thing does not 
follow another naturally and easily, but 
various elements meet and clash. Time 
after time, we are in danger of losing what we 
seemed to have won; over and over again, 
we must climb to the summit of life. But 
this struggle constantly calls forth new 
powers. We see that there is much more in 
us than appeared at first sight, or than we 
ourselves were wont to believe. Great 
shocks and strong emotions often produce 
new convictions or set free new forces within 
us. It is, above all, suffering which rouses 
and regenerates, which teaches us to see 
and cultivate the deepest that is in us. What 
hitherto seemed to constitute our whole 
being, now proves to be but a single stratum, 
which it is quite possible to transcend. 



A Defence 55 

The real man is only a part, a section of 
the possible man. The possibilities dormant 
in us are an integral part of our being; and 
these possibilities enable us to attain some- 
thing higher and greater. On this power of 
inner growth rests the confidence of those 
who, while recognising the evils of this life, 
fight bravely and hopefully on the side of 
progress. The statesman wishing to raise 
his people from within, builds on such a 
capacity for inner growth, and believes in 
the realisation of new possibilities; so does 
the educator in his efforts to cultivate and 
ennoble men's souls. Art and religion are 
ever at work, in order to discover new pos- 
sibilities and bring them home to man. Were 
it not for such new possibilities and the 
regenerative power of man, his life could 
retain nothing of its youthful vigour, and 
would lapse into stagnation and senility. 
The same would apply to human civilisation : 
it would drift away from simplicity and truth, 
and would become more and more artificial. 

It is in our own power to maintain our 



56 A Modern System of Ethics 

vitality, and to oppose increasing inner 
strength to all alien and hostile forces. It 
is by no means certain that we shall always 
be victorious; it is one of the tragedies of 
life that a man's soul is filled with longing 
for something better, yet is held captive by 
circumstance, and is finally driven back to 
that from which he would fain escape. And 
yet it is this struggle which gives to life its 
vitality and its greatness; and wherever 
there is religious conviction, there also 
dwells the hope that what could not gain 
full victory in our life, will not be lost before 
God. To quote Browning: 

What I aspired to be, 

And was not, comforts me. . . . 

All instincts immature, 
All purposes unsure, . . . 

All I could never be, 
All, men ignored in me: 

This, I was worth to God. ■ 
If all this helps to prove the autonomy of 

x From "Rabbi Ben Ezra." 



A Defence 57 

man and his independent power of decision, 
it does not mean the dissociation of man 
from all inner cohesion. This freedom only 
becomes possible by the revelation within 
him of a new world. There could be no 
spontaneity of action in single cases, if a 
world of independent and spontaneous life 
did not exist and embrace us from within. 
Thus the individual appertains to the whole, 
even in the exercise of freedom. That of 
which he is capable by himself alone, is 
only his ability to bring his own will into 
accordance with higher laws. All deep 
thinkers have seen, in the grasp of the es- 
sence of life and the development of its 
possibilities by means of this individual 
capacity, not an achievement of man alone, 
but the manifestation of a higher power, a 
gift of grace. Life did not seem to them to 
be so divided between grace and freedom, 
that one of these factors could only be en- 
riched by what was taken from the other; 
they considered both to be so indissolubly 
united, that freedom and the power of inner 



58 A Modern System of Ethics 

growth appeared to them to be the highest 
sign of grace. The most energetic natures, 
if possessed of any spirituality, have gen- 
erally felt themselves to be instruments of 
a higher power and compelled by an 
inner necessity. This feeling gave them the 
strength and self-confidence indispensable 
for their work. In the case of achievement 
for the visible world, this higher power was 
mostly looked upon as a dark fate, which 
protects man as long as it needs him, and 
abandons him as soon as he ceases to be 
useful. But in the case of inner change and 
regeneration, this fate was superseded by a 
power of love and mercy, which sustains man 
even in the midst of the greatest dangers. 
In religion especially, the consciousness of 
complete dependence on a superior power 
has not led to a suspension or restriction of 
activity. This is clearly proved by such 
men as St. Paul, St. Augustine, and Calvin. 
They were not the soulless vessels of a truth 
committed to them; they grasped, by their 
own recognition and decision, what seemed 



A Defence 59 

to them to be the truth. Yet in their own 
consciousness, achievement was of small 
value compared to what they revered as a 
gift of grace. " Quid habemus quod non 
accepimus ? ' ' (St. Augustine) . ' ' What have 
we that we have not received ?" 

Hitherto we have been concerned with 
refuting widespread objections to the possi- 
bility of morality. We must now consider 
the violent opposition against the apprecia- 
tion which morality demands — and must 
demand. It seems impossible for morality 
to be unquestionably superior to everything 
else in life, and to demand absolute obedience 
to its requirements, since it does not fill the 
whole of life, but must share men's allegiance 
with other obligations, and must seek some 
compromise with them. This objection 
could only be valid, if our whole life were a 
homogeneous structure, — if one single aim 
dominated all activity, and achievement in 
this direction could alone determine the 
value of our action. But the case is very 



60 A Modern System of Ethics 

different. Even the one fact that two planes 
unite in our life makes it impossible to apply 
the same standard to all the variety we en- 
counter. The various values determined 
by these two planes are too different to be 
compared with one another. How could we 
judge sensuous enjoyment and outer success 
in the same way as we judge values like 
truth and honour? 

Further, morality is not concerned merely 
with single values appertaining to the higher 
plane, but with the recognition and appro- 
priation of this higher plane itself: it is a 
movement from a whole and to a whole. 
Once the conviction obtains that the spiritual 
phase of life is something entirely different 
to nature, the acquisition of it becomes the 
chief problem of life, and the claim of moral- 
ity — which upholds the principle of such 
acquisition — can assert its supremacy over 
all other claims. Wherever this was con- 
tested, the new world revealed by the spirit- 
ual life was not fully recognised. The 
experience of history shows that no artistic 



A Defence 61 

or intellectual achievement could prevent 
a rapid abatement and deterioration of the 
spiritual life, if the ethical task was not fully 
recognised. Morality is like religion : neither 
can take a secondary or even a co-ordinate 
place; they must be valued more than every- 
thing else in life, or else they will inevitably 
come to mean less. 

We have now seen that the doubts as- 
sailing morality generally proceed from a 
particular conception of the universe and of 
man's position in it. This more or less 
naturalistic conception, in spite of all it 
claims to be, by no means exhausts the re- 
sources of human life. As soon as we recog- 
nise the limitations of this conception of life 
and free ourselves from its tyranny, we are 
able to acknowledge fully the claims of 
morality. Nay, more: these claims must 
then appeal to us as being both legitimate and 
imperative; and what might at first appear 
to be unintelligible, will become absolutely 
clear and certain. 



IV 
Evolution of the Ethical Principle 



63 



IV 

EVOLUTION OF THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 

TTAVING removed the obstructions which 
* * oppose the development of morality, 
we can now inquire into the special character- 
istics of the morality based on the spiritual 
life. Since morality recognises the principle 
of the spiritual life, which it absorbs into its 
own volition and being, therefore the nature 
of the spiritual life will also determine the 
nature of morality itself. We have already 
seen that the life of the spirit constitutes a 
new world as compared to the life which 
originally encompasses us in nature and 
society, and which, though it contains cer- 
tain processes of a spiritual character, is yet 
mainly and fundamentally bound to the 
senses. The spiritual element is here dis- 
integrated into separate manifestations, and 
s 65 



66 A Modern System of Ethics 

is never free from the alloy of sense. In 
the new life, the spiritual gains autonomy, 
becomes a comprehensive whole, and is able 
to cultivate its own individuality. It reveals 
a plane of life essentially superior to that 
of nature. On man devolves the great task 
of attaining and developing this plane, on 
which life first acquires self-concentration 
and inner significance, and becomes real, 
genuine life. 

Let us see how this affects morality. It 
is not confined to individual provinces of 
life, but extends over its whole expansion 
and into every ramification, demanding a 
change and an uplifting. This refutes a 
conception of morality which limits it to the 
relation of man to man, and makes it synony- 
mous with altruism. Morality undoubtedly 
has much to do in relation to our fellow-men ; 
but does it not also find great tasks in the 
culture of the soul, — in spiritual work for 
the world, as expressed in science and art? 
The quintessence of the Stoical teaching was 
the development of personality, the pro- 



Evolution 67 

clamation of man's inner autonomy and 
superiority to the world around him. We 
can hardly refuse to acknowledge the moral 
character of this teaching, as also of the 
Christian teaching, which found expression 
in men like Augustine, who brought all 
moral action into immediate connection 
with God, and derived it from love to Him. 
Let us now turn to science and art. We 
see how, in spite of all inner and outer 
difficulties, a man like Kant devotes himself 
in unremitting activity to the lifelong task 
of finding pure and adequate expression for 
the perception of truth struggling into 
consciousness within him. We see how, in 
the same spirit, an artist scorns all external 
advantage, and strives only after a pure 
cultivation and assertion of the creative 
power within his soul. Must not such 
fidelity to oneself and to one's own work 
strike us as being in the highest degree moral? 
The ethical obligation consequently extends 
to all ramifications of life. Everywhere we 
must take possession of the spiritual life for 



68 A Modern System of Ethics 

its own sake, transpose ourselves into its 
inner movement, and exalt it above all con- 
cerns of the individual or even of mankind. 
Therefore we must not seek the highest aim 
of our actions in the welfare of society, of the 
community to which we belong. 

The welfare of society is a conception cap- 
able of very different interpretations. It 
may mean the mere subjective well-being of 
people living together. In that case, a new 
plane of life is not attained; a social utili- 
tarianism develops, which destroys all inner 
values, and the sole aim of life is to provide 
the means of life. But the condition of 
society can also be our chief aim because the 
new plane, with its essentially new values, 
is best attained through life in the com- 
munity. Then we do not place ourselves 
merely in the service of humanity, but we 
labour for the development of a spiritual 
world within the life of man. Then humanity 
as a whole is uplifted, and acknowledges a 
great task, while social utilitarianism limits 
life to the human sphere, and takes from it 



Evolution 69 

all possibility of inner uplifting. Utilita- 
rianism is the most dangerous opponent of 
spiritual productive power, for it degrades 
to a means what should be valued for its 
own sake and as the highest aim. Utilita- 
rianism does not change its character by- 
becoming social utilitarianism. Inner pro- 
gress of life is only possible if the spiritual 
values, as the true, the good, and the beauti- 
ful, are striven after and appreciated for their 
own sake, and not as a means for promoting 
human welfare, — if creative production is 
not actuated by any consideration of results, 
but is an inner necessity of a man's own soul. 
We have seen that the attainment of 
autonomy in the spiritual life implies a 
reversion of the original order of things, 
and that the whole of life is thus seen in a 
new light. It follows that no real morality 
can be engendered merely by developing 
existing conditions, or heightening natural 
forces. Wherever this was attempted, 
closer investigation will always show the 
presence of both the lower and the higher 



70 A Modern System of Ethics 

phase, and the consequent weakening of 
morality. Here Christianity has achieved 
something of world-wide historical import- 
ance: it clearly demonstrated the gulf be- 
tween all merely natural development and 
real moral action; it has also shown us that 
something essentially new appears in moral- 
ity, something unattainable by merely 
ennobling nature. 

This was not only the case with religion, 
for the deepest thinkers of all times have seen 
in morality not a mere intensification, but a 
complete transformation. Plato made real 
virtue dependent on aspiration to the world 
of ideas. He distinguished this virtue from 
all that men call virtue, though to him it 
was little more than physical ability. Kant 
advocated something similar, by forbidding 
man to base action on inclination alone. 
He even went so far as to make action against 
natural inclination a sign of good principle. 
The requirement thus formulated does not 
preclude fruitful moral germs and impulses 
in the existing order of things; but their full 



Evolution 71 

development is only possible when a distinct 
reversion has taken place, and when an 
independent spiritual life purifies, unites, 
and exalts all beginnings. These alone can 
never, by a slow process of evolution, raise 
life to the plane of genuine spirituality. As 
we have seen, the morality of the spiritual 
life rejects a merely natural origin. But 
because it represents something essentially 
new, its main object cannot consist in the 
denial and suppression of mere nature. 
This was the aim of asceticism, especially 
in its development as a reaction against the 
antique over-estimation of nature. In the 
latter days of antiquity, life was swamped and 
enfeebled by a refined form of sensuality. 
Life could only develop if this sensuality 
was resisted and full supremacy was ad- 
vocated for the spiritual. We can under- 
stand that those engaged in this struggle 
went so far as to see the highest morality 
in the complete suppression of sensual life. 
This bears witness to admirable personal 
feeling; and yet it was a dangerous error, 



72 A Modern System of Ethics 

for it diverted men from the great task of 
giving inner significance to life, and of filling 
it with strong and healthy love. The 
strictest asceticism can be united to inner 
hollowness, to spiritual pride, and to want 
of love. An ascetic element is inseparable 
from all morality, but only an element sub- 
ject to higher aims. We feel it to have been 
one of the great merits of the Reformation, 
that it set aside the mediaeval appreciation 
of asceticism. 

If it is true that autonomy of the spiritual 
life results in progression towards a new plane, 
then only such forms of morality can satisfy 
us as fully acknowledge such progression 
and the consequent affirmation of life, — as 
establish the value of man, and stimulate 
him to strenuous effort. All systems which 
base morality on pity alone must therefore 
appear inadequate. Pity does much to 
free man from narrow egoism, and to inspire 
him with sympathy for others, even for all 
mankind ; but pity alone shows only one side 
of life — only limitations and difficulties, 



Evolution 73 

suffering and gloom. It restricts man's 
outlook to this one side of life, so that he can 
acquire neither glad courage nor any impulse 
tending to the uplifting of his existence. 
Pity reveals no new possibilities as love 
does it; complete resignation here forms 
the highest pinnacle of the philosophy of life 
and not the creating of a new world. 

Neither can a system of morality satisfy 
us which only draws up laws and regula- 
tions, — which indicates definite channels of 
action, without vitalising action or giving 
it any progressive impulse. This might 
suffice if man only had to take his place in a 
given order of things. But it is quite inade- 
quate if the whole soul is to be gained for a 
new plane, and if a new order of things is to 
be built up within the human sphere. There 
is, besides, the danger of interpreting moral- 
ity above all as a narrowing, a police system 
of life, and of thus forfeiting man's sympathy. 
We do not deny that the uplifting, insepar- 
able from spiritual life, demands many 
struggles and renunciations. We can only 



74 A Modern System of Ethics 

rise to an affirmative by means of a decided 
negation — a negation rendered necessary 
by the brutality of mere nature and the petti- 
ness of mere man. In the history of man- 
kind, morality at first operated chiefly 
through prohibition: it was necessary to 
restrain the wild natural impulses and 
destructive passions of man, in order to 
prepare the way for spiritual activity. We 
have but to think of the frequent recurrence 
of prohibitive laws in the older legislation 
of all nations. But there is a great distinc- 
tion, even in this primitive form of morality. 
The lower kind may remain permanently 
on the grade of negation, while higher 
forms will work their way through the 
negation to affirmation, and will retain 
consciousness of this affirmation even in 
presence of negation. Morality must con- 
sequently be productive in character, not 
merely regulative. Productive morality 
will press forward, not waiting till man is 
brought face to face with a new requirement 
or an opportunity of action, but taking the 



Evolution 75 

initiative, seeking new points of attack, 
bringing everything into movement, and 
promoting the growth of the spiritual life. 
Even then, morality cannot limit its task 
to the ordering of private life, but must 
extend its activity to general conditions 
and human society. Life in the community 
must be exalted, and fitted to become the 
representative of spiritual life. It is one 
of the chief demands of modern times, that 
not only private life, but the whole of human 
society, should be subject to moral judgment 
and moral operation. Hegel condemned 
as "paltriness of faith, " (Kleinkramerei des 
Glaubens) men's belief in the guidance of 
their personal destiny by divine might and 
wisdom, while at the same time they believed 
the fate of mankind, as manifested in the 
history of the world, to be governed by blind 
unreasonable chance. We must also combat 
a paltriness of morality which concerns it- 
self with the private affairs of individuals, 
but shows no interest and recognises no 
obligation with regard to what concerns 



76 A Modern System of Ethics 

humanity at large. In former times, when 
man was conscious of his weakness with 
regard to his environment, the most hopeless 
situation could be accepted as the will of 
God or as a decree of fate. But the modern 
man, with his consciousness of power and 
of his obligations towards the community, 
cannot reject the idea of the moral solid- 
arity of all. He must therefore concern 
himself with the general conditions of man- 
kind, and must display active interest in 
this direction. 

Let us further consider what has been 
achieved by the autonomy of the spiritual 
life. We must first of all return to the new 
depth of life which we have already recognised 
as one of its most important results. This 
means that we must cultivate in ourselves a 
firm basis, a continuous activity which deter- 
mines, vitalises, and permeates each individual 
action. We must develop a distinct nucleus, an 
essential character which is not a mere back- 
ground to our activity, but an integral part 



Evolution 77 

of it. This being the case, morality cannot 
be satisfied with stimulating man to certain 
achievements, and setting free the forces 
within him; it demands of him a new life, 
in which he must strive to make the deepen- 
ing of activity we have been considering, an 
essential part of all his action. This is the 
ideal we try to realise in the development 
of personality and moral character. We 
want not merely to act but to be something, 
to make something out of ourselves, to put 
our own personal self into our action, and 
to so act that we ourselves thereby grow and 
advance. Only then life is so concentrated 
on itself and becomes self-conscious and self- 
centred — only then can it gain significance ; it 
will otherwise be empty and hollow inwardly, 
in spite of unremitting activity. This is 
what justifies the estimation in which the 
ideas of personality and character are held. 
Why indeed should we value it so highly, 
were it but an accumulation of natural forces 
and impulses, and not the representative and 
starting-point of a new life? 



78 A Modern System of Ethics 

Not only in individuals must such a depth 
of being, such a spiritual individuality be 
developed ; but in every community, in every 
nation, in all mankind. Everywhere must 
a spiritual character be formed, and this 
spiritual character must inspire and permeate 
all action. Only thus can a spiritual atmo- 
sphere be created, — can a really civilised 
nation be differentiated from other nations; 
only thus, and not by means of outer 
victories and conquests, can any nation gain 
lasting significance for all humanity. So, for 
instance, Greek culture is a possession for- 
ever. 

In all this, it is evident that in striving 
for morality, we are not seeking something 
alien, but rather our own essential being. 
Yet this being does not already exist in us, 
but has first to be acquired ; it lies not behind 
us, but in front of us; we cannot take for 
granted a firm basis and positive continuity, 
which we see before us as high tasks and 
ideals. From the imperfect and incomplete 
life we generally lead, we must resolutely 



Evolution 79 

advance towards real and genuine life. 
While striving after morality, we are at the 
same time battling for our own spiritual 
self; we cannot but feel morality as a living 
inner presence, a source of strength and of 
joyous impulse to action. Thus understood, 
morality needs no reward from without; 
indeed, it sustains grave injury, if action 
is dominated by the thought of reward. 
For then the autonomy and independence 
which are above all aimed at, must be given 
up; and we force under an alien yoke that 
life which should be based on itself alone. 
Such accentuation of autonomy in life 
and morality, might seem to exalt man 
unduly, and to inspire him with self-conscious 
pride. But we have already guarded our- 
selves against such misapprehension. We 
have seen that every undertaking possible 
to the individual lies within a sustaining 
and impelling movement of the whole. The 
recognition of morality is therefore not a 
matter of personal option or caprice. The 
life of the whole operates in the individual; 



80 A Modern System of Ethics 

but, on the other hand, his decision influences 
the whole of reality in the direction of pro- 
gress or retrogression. In this way the 
conception of duty arises, in which the whole 
of life, the whole of the cosmic movement 
formulates a claim on us. Kant rightly 
pointed out that duty cannot come to us 
from without, but must proceed from our 
own being. This can only be the case if 
our being experiences an inner gradation. 
A spiritual world speaks within us, not as 
something alien, but in union with our own 
innermost being, as the depth of our own soul. 
The idea of duty is necessary in proportion 
to the consciousness and recognition of the 
difference between man as he is, and the 
inner world which corresponds to his inner- 
most being. Wherever this consciousness 
grows dim, there morality speedily experi- 
ences an inner weakening. Duty is the salt 
of life. Where it is lacking, life, however 
brilliant externally, becomes inwardly tame 
and insipid, while on the other hand, duty 
can impart inner greatness and dignity to 



Evolution 8 1 

what appears small and insignificant. But 
as we do not wish the presence of salt to be 
everywhere perceptible, so also the idea of 
duty must not always force itself on our 
consciousness, but must be a latent power in 
our soul and life, lifting us above all that 
is arbitrary and capricious. We must take 
duty up into our inner being, and not 
place it there as something alien or hostile. 
Moral life can quite well unite earnestness 
and joy, reverence and love — earnestness 
and reverence towards the superior majesty 
of a higher power operative to us, joy and 
love arising from the mighty presence of 
this higher power within us. 



Thus constituted, morality can fully ac- 
knowledge the various moral impulses at 
work in the present day; it can, at the same 
time, oppose their disintegration, and help 
them as far as possible to promote each 
others best interests. We have seen how, 
in our day, invisible and visible impulses 
are in operation, which easily come into 

6 



82 A Modern System of Ethics 

mutual opposition. The morality of the 
spiritual life can in such cases acknowledge 
both aspects, even if it cannot value them 
equally. For this morality must take up a 
position in an invisible world, since the pro- 
gression from a visible to an invisible world 
goes through the whole of the spiritual life. 
At the same time work in the visible world 
is most important for man, if not indispens- 
able. He is driven to it not only by the 
necessity of natural self-preservation, but 
also by the real interests of the invisible 
world. He does not find this invisible 
world ready for him, or waiting to develop 
steadily from within, but he must acquire 
and strengthen it by battling against the 
visible world and its resistance. The spirit- 
ual movement is sure to become subjective 
and uncertain, as soon as it severs all con- 
nection with the visible world, in relation 
to which our work gains strength and confi- 
dence. Love, strength, and continuity are 
thus acquired, which must then be trans- 
formed into activity for our fellow-men. 



Evolution 83 

This applies both to individuals and to all 
mankind. Such valuation of activity for the 
visible world does not mean that we consti- 
tute life out of the visible and the invisible 
as out of two factors of equal value, for 
wherever spiritual life develops, the invisible 
is of paramount importance, and every- 
thing else must be brought into relation 
with it. The visible is valuable only as a 
means for the development or manifestation 
of the invisible. But as such, it is of con- 
siderable value. Thus the morality of the 
spiritual life is quite able to recognise — and 
to benefit by — the great civilising work of 
the modern age and its untiring social activ- 
ity, even while insisting on their assimila- 
tion by a vaster cohesion which is to vitalise 
them. 

We shall see, later on, that the invisible 
world cannot hold its own against doubts 
and obstacles, unless it is aided by religion. 
But although the morality of the spiritual 
life must seek to be in close touch with re- 
ligion, it must do its best to counteract the 



84 A Modern System of Ethics 

dangers arising from an exclusively religious 
system of ethics. Religious morality in 
former times often directed man's endeavour 
too much towards a world of faith and hope 
beyond our world, and was inclined to neglect 
earthly matters as being of secondary im- 
portance. It often transferred to human 
affairs the humility and pliability born of 
its relation to God; and it consequently 
lacked strength and vigour when dealing 
with the evils of human life. These perils 
can be counteracted by a morality of the 
spiritual life, which sees the operation of 
the Divine Being above all in man, even 
while acknowledging its superiority to man. 
Such morality will urge man to seek and ap- 
propriate eternal values, not only in a future 
state, but in this our earthly life. Such 
morality will teach man not to accept the un- 
reasonable conditions as he finds them, but 
to struggle against them with all his might, 
striving to impart reality to the reasonable 
and reason to reality. 

The morality of reason and immanent 



Evolution 85 

idealism contains a virile strength and educa- 
tional power that the morality of the spirit- 
ual life is bound to acknowledge. Yet 
spiritual morality must counteract certain 
undesirable results frequently brought about 
by mere rational morality, which is prone 
to overrate intellect and abstract ideas, to 
overvalue the strength of the individual, 
and thus to encourage undue pride and self- 
consciousness. 

Thus great tasks are evident in all 
directions. From the standpoint of the 
spiritual life it is possible to take them up 
hopefully, and to counteract antitheses 
which would otherwise disintegrate human 
life. In all these tasks, taken together, 
we see how life may be quickened and 
strengthened by the ethics of the spiritual 
life. Everywhere it is necessary to proceed 
beyond a given order of things, — to rise 
above merely human aims and conditions, — 
to develop the consciousness of a marvellous 
depth of reality, in which man is privileged 



86 A Modern System of Ethics 

to participate. We discover a great cosmic 
movement, and we see our own greatness 
in our co-operation in this movement, by 
which we contribute something to the 
growth of the spiritual world. To speak 
with Leibnitz: "Man is not a part, but an 
image of the divine, a presentation of the 
universe, a denizen of the City of God." 



V 

Morality and Religion 



87 



MORALITY AND RELIGION 

WE have hitherto confined ourselves to 
the inner development of morality, 
without considering the attitude of the world 
around us and within us to those claims 
which morality, from its very nature, is 
bound to assert. At all times, this question 
has presented grave complications, which 
are magnified rather than diminished by 
the philosophy of the spiritual life. 

If morality is the first condition and an 
essential factor of all independent spiritual 
life, — if this spiritual life is the central point 
of reality, and dominates all its manifesta- 
tions : then we might expect to see, through- 
out the visible world, the triumph of good, 
the repression of evil, and the rule of a 
moral order of things, moulding reality to 

89 



90 A Modern System of Ethics 

its requirements. Man's desire for such an 
order of things does not rise from petty 
motives, but from an imperative desire for 
the unquestioned supremacy of the good: 
what is in itself of such absolute value, must 
be strong enough to enforce its dominion 
over reality, otherwise it might come to be 
considered merely as a subjective illusion. 
The world, as we see it, does not come up 
to this requirement. It evinces — as every 
impartial observer must acknowledge — ab- 
solute indifference, not only to the weal and 
woe of man, but also to his moral conduct. 
How often, in the destiny of nations as of 
individuals, does good succumb and evil 
triumph! It may be that we often judge 
too exclusively from external impressions, 
and that there is more justice in the world 
than appears at first sight. But this is no 
more than a possibility, and we cannot as- 
sert that it is in any way realised. Much 
remains dark, and has not been explained 
away, in spite of the efforts made by religion 
and philosophy during thousands of years. 



Morality and Religion 91 

These efforts have made the darkness less 
evident, but have not brought light into it. 
We can deny neither the indifference of 
nature to our moral action, nor the incapac- 
ity of man to enforce, in his own sphere, the 
triumph and supremacy of the moral idea. 
And this gulf between what we must demand 
and what we find in the world, receives 
further accentuation by the recognition of 
an independent spiritual life closely allied 
to morality. For the impotence of morality 
now appears as the impotence of the whole 
spiritual life. At the same time, the human 
sphere seems to lose all its own special 
significance, since it cannot enforce universal 
recognition of the power to which it owes 
its privileged position. 

Distressing as is this contradiction between 
the inner requirement and external experi- 
ence, it does not necessarily lead to a weaken- 
ing of the moral obligation. This is plainly 
shown by religion, more especially by early 
Christianity. The early Christians were 
fully conscious of the sorrow and gloom of 



92 A Modern System of Ethics 

human life; they realised the unreasonable- 
ness of the world we live in, quite as fully 
as the pessimists of our day. Yet their 
faith and courage remained unshaken. The 
contradiction of experience only intensified 
their inner conviction, and gave it an almost 
defiant superiority. This was only possible, 
because the possession of a new life and the 
certainity of a new world made it easy to 
bear all the contradictions in the existing 
order of things. From their certainty of a 
new world, arose the conviction that the 
good could only be impotent in a certain 
phase and for a certain time. The early 
Christians were so sure of the ultimate 
triumph of good, that they found strength 
to persevere in the battle of life. 

The present time lacks this joyous cer- 
tainty of a higher world and a new life. 
Therefore the contradiction between the 
course of the world and the requirements 
of morality, is felt in all its rigour, and doubt 
is intensified by the unsatisfactory moral 
condition of human life, by the inner weakness 



Morality and Religion 93 

of morality in our day. Single individuals 
are not without good intentions, but they 
lack the power of achievement. Spiritual 
activity is generally treated as of secondary 
importance; infinitely greater value is at- 
tached to the natural self-preservation of 
individuals and of society. Life in the 
community ought to give greater promi- 
nence to moral claims, and be governed as 
far as possible by moral law. But on the 
one hand there is not enough power of 
volition, and on the other hand there is, 
here also, a wide gulf between volition and 
achievement. Social life also displays so 
much self-interest, selfishness, and passion, 
so much unreality and hypocrisy, that 
morality cannot reach any adequate develop- 
ment. The spiritual powers which should 
raise man to a higher plane are mostly with- 
drawn into the service of the lower plane, 
and life is thus diverted into wrong channels. 
This contradiction between human condi- 
tions and the requirements of morality has 
been expressed in various ways by the great 



94 A Modern System of Ethics 

thinkers. Plato lamented, above all, the 
evanescence and unreality of everyday life ; 
Augustine the overweening conceit of man ; 
Kant the insincerity and injustice every- 
where apparent. But to one and all, the 
moral condition of mankind appeared most 
unsatisfactory. 

All these contradictions, obstructions, and 
distortions are so deep-rooted, that we can 
hardly expect any essential progress to 
result from a gradual amelioration. In 
other directions — such as science and techni- 
cal knowledge — humanity may make steady 
progress; but it is not so easy to prove that 
humanity will also experience moral improve- 
ment. The progress of civilisation brings 
with it the development of much that is 
good, but also of much that is evil, for 
civilisation develops great power, without 
providing for its moral guidance. History 
shows us how mankind has always seemed 
to alternate between periods of moral growth 
and periods of moral decay ; but it is doubtful 
whether, on the whole, much has been gained. 



Morality and Religion 95 

How often have the nations longed to return 
to simpler and more innocent beginnings! 

All these impressions might seem to prove 
that morality has no power in the life of man. 
A doubt easily arises as to whether, if moral- 
ity is so powerless, we ought to acknow- 
ledge it as the guide of our life, or whether 
we should not rather expel it as a mere 
illusion. But the experience of history shows 
us unmistakably that the roots of morality 
lie deeper, and are not so easily removed. 
Even if morality is not the ruling power, it 
is unquestionably efficacious as man's law- 
giver and judge. Again and again, the 
nations may resist the claims of morality, 
and the conceptions of morality itself may be 
widely divergent; yet wherever human life 
develops, moral judgment develops with it. 
Certain actions are highly esteemed, others 
are decidedly condemned. Something oper- 
ates in man which is not confined to his own 
interest, and which forces him to judge his 
actions. Such judgment must inevitably 



96 A Modern System of Ethics 

influence both the action and the spiritual 
condition of man ; in one direction it promotes, 
in another it represses. 

History gives us an indirect proof of the 
power of morality over man. There are 
times in the history of mankind when the 
moral idea, with its decree of duty, recedes 
into the background, and is even scoffed at 
as an irksome instrument of control. But 
such times, however brilliant on the sur- 
face, cannot resist inner decay and hollowness, 
till at last they become unendurable. Then, 
if there is a return to morality, it is superior 
to, and triumphant over all other interests. 
It was moral earnestness and moral strength 
that were above all instrumental in causing 
early Christianity to overcome the pagan 
world that was, in all outer respects, superior 
and more powerful. It was moral energy 
that gave the Reformation its power to 
advance and conquer, while the soft and 
beautiful Renaissance perished because it 
lacked morality. Look where we will, we 
see that the moral task, if fully and 



Morality and Religion 97 

clearly grasped, is stronger than anything 
else. 

It is therefore impossible for mankind to 
renounce morality. But we have seen that 
morality, as a rule, has little power over 
external life or man's soul, and is forced into 
a subordinate position. This produces inner 
discord in human life. Man acquires inner 
insincerity by not recognising and developing 
the depths of his own being. This inner 
contradiction can be fully appreciated by a 
system of philosophy which attaches special 
importance to the idea of the spiritual life. 
For in the light of such philosophy, we see 
one great contradiction pervading the whole 
of life : the spiritual activity — which ought to 
lead man to an independent inner life, thus 
making his existence one of joyous creative 
work — is used by average life as a mere 
means and instrument for human ends. 
Spiritual activity is thus degraded, for the 
good has mostly to give way to utilitarian 
considerations. This is the case, when the 
motive of scientific research is its utility, 



98 A Modern System of Ethics 

and not a desire for truth. This is the case, 
when art does not reveal a new world to man 
by means of genuine beauty, but appeals 
only to his senses. This is the case, whenever 
the subjective welfare of man — either of the 
individual or of society — is the highest aim, 
— whenever man is not led to a higher life 
by spiritual activity, but is only confirmed by 
it in the lower life. 

Such conflicts, such inner discord, such 
stagnation of life impel morality to seek close 
contact with religion. We see that man has 
in himself an ideal, on which depends all the 
greatness and dignity of his life; but he can- 
not reach it unaided. Something strives 
to assert itself within him, without his being 
able to accomplish it. He remains chained to 
a lower level, above which his innermost soul 
longs to rise. Doubt and uncertainty proceed 
from the fact that what is of the very highest 
inner value should have so little power in 
the world and in the sphere of human life. 
For deep and earnest natures as St. Augustine 
and as Luther, such uncertainty has often 



Morality and Religion 99 

become unbearable; from inner conflicts 
was born the sure and triumphant conviction 
of a higher power in the movement towards 
morality, — a power which not only imposes 
moral obligations on man, but which, by 
the revelation of a new life, gives him 
strength to fulfil them. Morality here ap- 
pears as something infinitely superior to the 
uncertainty of human conditions, and com- 
pletely independent of man's attitude to- 
wards it. If morality does not attain the 
power due to it in man's life, this is now at- 
tributed to the weakness, not of morality, 
but of man. The majesty of morality is 
by no means prejudiced by man's line of 
conduct. Kant could therefore declare that 
"it is most reprehensible to derive either 
the origin or any restriction of the laws tell- 
ing me what I should do, from that which 
is done by others." 

It is the essence of all deep religions, 
especially of Christianity, that a new life 
is created in man by a revelation of the 
Divine by means of a direct union of the 



ioo A Modern System of Ethics 

soul with God. This new life is held to be 
superior to the complexity of existing condi- 
tions, and is sure to triumph, because it is 
founded in God. A source of life is thus 
opened up, which imparts new activity to 
the life hitherto stagnant. Man regains 
courage and confidence, because he feels 
himself sustained by divine strength and 
love. No contradiction in the world of ex- 
ternal realities is now able to weaken man's 
inner certainty. A powerful impulse to- 
wards work and creative activity will be 
born of the gladness within him. This 
explains the unquestioning confidence and 
joyous energy manifested by all the leaders 
of religious life; the consciousness of their 
deliverance from dire distress filled them 
with unbounded gratitude, which sought 
expression in unremitting work for their 
fellow-men. Luther says: "From faith flow 
love and joy in the Lord, and from love a 
free and joyous spirit of voluntary service of 
our neighbour, quite irrespective of gratitude 
or ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss." 



Morality and Religion 101 

Further development of life by means of 
religion is sure to stamp morality with 
characteristic features. The consciousness 
of deliverance by a higher power will arouse 
not only gratitude, but humility and child- 
like confidence. If everything man has is 
but a gift, then he will see, in his highest 
achievement, less his own work than that of 
God. Gentleness and toleration will gain 
ground; arrogance and harshness will dis- 
appear; all decisive action will have an inner 
rather than an outer significance. The 
value of an action depends on loyalty to 
principle, and not on the greatness of what 
is achieved. This is shown by Jesus in the 
parable of the talents. 

But this accentuation of softer elements 
and inner values by no means paralyses 
activity. For the new life must be energeti- 
cally developed and bravely asserted against 
an alien, not to say a hostile, world. Man 
finds a great task, first of all in his own soul, 
but then in the whole of his life with other 
men. We may here apply a principle of 



102 A Modern System of Ethics 

the Reformation, which has thus been 
expressed: "The word of God comes to 
change and renew the world, whenever it 
comes.' ' There is one thing on which a 
philosophy of the spiritual life must emphatic- 
ally insist: this return to religion must not 
be confined to the individual, but must 
embrace all the conditions of human life. 
Only thus can the whole of man be won. 
This can only be done by creating a specific 
religious sphere of life, a specific religious 
community. Many of us may wish the 
Church to be, in certain respects, different 
to what it is ; but that should not make us 
ignore the necessity of a religious community. 
It is indispensable, if we are to establish the 
new life in the human sphere, and bring it 
within the reach of the individual; it is 
indispensable, if the struggle is to be main- 
tained by great entities, and is not to degener- 
ate into small skirmishes. At the present 
time, when the state is engrossed by eco- 
nomic and other constantly changing prob- 
lems of the day, we need a community which 



Morality and Religion 103 

attaches paramount importance to the inner 
problems of humanity and which directs 
our life towards eternal aims and values. 

In this union with religion, morality will 
be inclined to see more gloom than light in 
the life around us. For morality will then 
judge by higher standards, and will empha- 
sise the insufficiency of human achievement, 
the unsatisfactory character of the present 
situation. But morality cannot lead to 
despondency, once it is emancipated from 
the world of immediate environment, and 
has gained a new world. Morality will 
then see, in the world of strife and antithesis, 
only & special kind of reality, and not the 
whole of reality; it will recognise in this 
world only one act of a great drama, and not 
the whole drama. 

Much that is dark thus remains unex- 
plained. To speak with Goethe, we "walk 
among mysteries." Even if we cannot en- 
lighten what is dark, the new beginnings 
established in us will save us from becoming 
cowed and despondent. We are certain 



104 A Modern System of Ethics 

that great things are being accomplished 
in us and through us, — that a higher power 
is present within us throughout the struggles 
of our life. At the same time, we feel sure 
that our inner renewal is not mechanical, 
but requires our own decision and action, 
thus making us co-operate in the movement 
of the universe, and giving to our activity a 
significance for the whole. That must and 
that can be sufficient for us. We can agree 
with Luther, when he thus characterises 
human life: "It is not yet done and ac- 
complished, but it is in working order and in 
full swing; it is not the end, but the way. 
All does not yet glow and shine, but all is 
being burnished." 

We know that so close a connection be- 
tween morality and religion is often contested 
nowadays. But we believe that religious 
morality can only be attacked by those who 
have too low an estimate of morality or too 
high an estimate of the actual condition of 
humanity. If morality is but a means of 
tolerable order in the social community of 



Morality and Religion 105 

life, and is only looked upon as a controlling 
force, then it can dispense with religion. 
But this means a lowering of the moral 
requirement, the fulfilment of which brings 
but little gain or profit. It is possible, 
on the other hand, to value morality more 
highly, but to over-estimate man, as experi- 
ence shows him to be. He is looked on as 
a good and noble being, easily won for the 
highest aims. Were this a true conception 
of man, then morality could attain its ends 
by its own strength alone. But we are 
clearly shown that this is not the case, both 
by the conviction of all great religious and 
philosophical teachers, and by the general 
impression of human life. At all times, the 
pessimists — and not the optimists — were 
held to have the best knowledge of human 
nature. We need only consider more closely 
the delineation of human life left us by the 
so-called optimistic philosophers (like Aris- 
totle and Leibnitz), in order to see that even 
they found in it much that was dark and 
gloomy. 



106 A Modern System of Ethics 

If we maintain a high conception of the 
moral task and an impartial conception of 
the actual condition of human life, there 
remains but one dilemma: either complete 
hopelessness and inner collapse of life, or the 
acquisition of further cohesions, such as that 
offered by an alliance with religion. But re- 
ligion must then mean more than a sum of 
doctrines and institutions. It must influence 
the whole soul. It must not only cling to 
the past, but must, above all, be a power 
in the living present. It must not only be 
a source of comfort to individuals, but must 
raise the whole of mankind to a higher and 
purer level. In all these aspects, religion 
is both action and life, not mere thinking 
about the world, or subjective emotion. A 
connection of morality with religion thus 
understood, can be only a source of profit — 
not of loss — to morality, which will thus be 
strengthened in its bearing on external 
reality, and will experience a great deepening 
of its inner life. 



VI 
The Present Status of Morality 



107 



VI 

THE PRESENT STATUS OF MORALITY 

WE must now consider, in conclusion, 
the position of Morality in our day. 
Let us see what profit and loss accrues to 
morality from the present, and what its 
prospects are for the future. There can be 
no doubt about the fact that great changes 
are being effected — changes not only in the 
world of thought, but in the whole range 
of life and work. These changes at first 
result in manifold losses to morality. The 
pillars which used to support it began to 
totter, or gave way altogether; new ones 
arose, but are as yet too weak to offer an 
adequate substitute for what is lost. We 
cannot therefore look upon the present 
status of morality as a satisfactory one. 
The weakening of religious conviction 
109 



no A Modern System of Ethics 

and practice is unfavourable to morality. 
Imperfect as the influence of religion often 
was on mankind at large, and excessive as 
was the importance attached to the idea of 
reward and punishment, men yet recognised 
a power superior to all human action and 
all arbitrary human decision. This power 
was to be an object of reverence; and life 
was raised above the care for purely material 
possessions. It was also a gain for moral 
culture, that religion established the inner 
solidarity of man, and facilitated mutual 
understanding. Thus it is a loss for morality, 
that religion no longer maintains its former 
ruling position. 

The general condition of our intellectual 
life is unfavourable to morality, inasmuch as 
this intellectual life lacks a uniform aim 
which could unite scattered aspirations, 
strengthen every single undertaking, and 
counteract, as a whole, the interests of mere 
individuals. These interests at all times 
made themselves felt, and life was always in 
danger of being dominated by petty human 



The Present Status in 

considerations. But the difference between 
period and period depends on whether or not 
this danger is counteracted and man is 
raised above himself by some high aim. In 
our day, such counteraction is lacking. 
Where have we an aim embracing the whole 
man, which is common to us all and binds 
us together to inner communion? Every 
party and faction preaches some ideal of 
its own, the attainment of which will, it 
believes, unite men, making them good and 
happy. But these individual aims are very 
different in character; they are a cause of 
mutual hindrance, and they divide mankind 
in that which should be a means of union. 
Another disadvantage for inner culture 
is the rapid pace of life, as compared to 
former times. While we are hastening from 
moment to moment, we have neither repose 
nor leisure for the culture of our inner man, 
for the development of a character, a per- 
sonality. We are more and more in danger 
of being absorbed by the whirlpool of life, 
and robbed of all possibility of self-conscious 



ii2 A Modern System of Ethics 

action. Other perils also beset us. In our 
thirst for achievement and success, our 
moral judgment is often repressed; the 
accentuation of the battle of life can even 
make us indifferent to the moral quality 
of the ways and means employed by us. All 
this necessarily weakens morality, and makes 
it appear unimportant and shadowy. 

To these dangers arising from the general 
conduct of life, we must add others, which 
originate in the modern development of 
work in the community. In former times, 
the conditions of life were at once narrower 
and less subject to change. Social envi- 
ronment exercised a stricter and more ex- 
clusive control over the individual, holding 
him within the bounds of law and custom. 
This influence was often only an external 
one; correct behaviour was frequently mis- 
taken for moral integrity. This gave rise 
to much unreality and pharisaical hypocrisy. 
Still, a certain result was attained in the 
direction of moral culture; certain restraints 
were acknowledged, which cannot, without 



The Present Status 113 

impunity, be dispensed with. Restraints 
play an important part in the life of the soul, 
as well as in that of the body. Modern 
freedom of action makes the individual 
depend on himself alone, and we must be 
very optimistic to believe him able to com- 
pletely withstand, unaided, all the tempta- 
tions of life. 

We cannot omit one characteristic modern 
development: the change of men's mutual 
relation from a personal to an impersonal 
one. We have but to think of the difference 
between the cordial community of life estab- 
lished by the old arts and crafts, and the cool, 
almost hostile manner in which, in our great 
labour complexes, " employers' ' and "em- 
ployees" nowadays associate. There is no 
longer the slightest personal relation or per- 
sonal sympathy between them. 

If we survey all these losses, the balance 
of the day will hardly appear to be in favour 
of morality. But we must not forget that 
the present age has also supplied morality 



ii4 A Modern System of Ethics 

with new and valuable impulses. This is 
above all the case with labour — the modern 
form of work to which we have just alluded. 
There is a strong moral element in the ever 
increasing formation and organisation of 
great labour complexes, not only in the 
factory, but also in science, state organisa- 
tion, education, and so forth. The individual 
is thereby obliged to work in close union 
with others, and in accordance with objective 
requirements. He must adapt his own 
activity to the general character of the work; 
and yet he must do his own part conscien- 
tiously, so that the mass of separate achieve- 
ments may blend harmoniously and ensure 
the steady progress of the whole. This 
requires such loyalty, self-control, and sacri- 
fice of personal taste and opinion, that a 
strong moral effect is undeniable. In this 
respect, man now learns more implicit 
obedience than at any former period. An- 
other moral element in modern labour is the 
concentration of man's whole strength on his 
work, to the exclusion of all inert repose* 



The Present Status 115 

If the impersonal element predominates 
in work, the social side of modern life offers, 
on the other hand, more direct union and 
more reciprocal action between man and 
man. This was, at first, mainly theoretical. 
It was pointed out how much one man de- 
pends on his fellow-men. People realised 
that the individual develops with other 
individuals and as part of the community, 
with which his aspirations are indissolubly 
connected, even when he imagines he is 
striking out a path for himself. But such 
theories could only have so much influence, 
because they were in harmony with the 
realities of life. Modern life, with its techni- 
cal developments, brought individuals into 
close touch and created new opportunities 
of mutual intercourse, uniting men both in 
success and in failure. Thus grew up the 
consciousness of human solidarity, the recog- 
nition of men's interdependence, the idea of 
mutual obligation. The result is a wealth 
of humane activity, which penetrates into 
all the ramifications of life, attacking and 



n6 A Modern System of Ethics 

seeking to eradicate all forms of want and 
misery, instead of merely helping to relieve 
individual cases. We encounter the earnest 
endeavour to impart material and spiritual 
possessions, as far as possible, to all men; 
to help and strengthen the less favoured sec- 
tion of humanity; to further the interests 
of aspiring spirits. These efforts are but 
various aspects of one great duty, which we 
feel we cannot ignore; we can no longer look 
upon them as works of mercy, which it is a 
virtue to perform. This is at the root of 
the social idea. And this social idea is, in 
our day, the greatest bond of union between 
human beings ; not only does it stir individu- 
als, but it also exercises a strong influence on 
law, education, and so forth. In this respect 
our time has a right to claim undoubted 
superiority over all former times. 

These moral achievements of the present, 
valuable as they are, yet have their inner 
limitations. Nearly all movement here pro- 
ceeds outward, and is directed towards 
distinct single achievements, while the culture 



The Present Status 117 

and welfare of the inner man are mostly- 
treated as of secondary importance. Zeal 
for surface ends leads to the neglect of the 
central values of life. Yet all outer achieve- 
ment only means real gain for us, if it pro- 
motes the growth of the whole man, of his 
soul, of his personality, making him nobler, 
greater, and happier. If there is no develop- 
ment and strengthening of the centre of life, 
achievement on the surface is apt to result 
in grave complications, and all that is great 
in the present may thereby be driven into 
the wrong channels. Another danger grows 
out of the ever increasing tendency to organ- 
ise work. Owing to the necessity of specialis- 
ing and differentiating, the amount of work 
is restricted which the individual can com- 
prehend and master. He is tempted to 
concentrate his interest on his own little 
province, to be indifferent to everything 
outside it, and to lose all consciousness of a 
leading idea and of a great whole. He thus 
falls a prey to the narrow conceit of the 
specialist, and finally pushes aside as worth- 



n8 A Modern System of Ethics 

less accessories all matters of general in- 
terest, all the questions and sorrows of 
humanity at large. 

By furthering a spirit of pity for human 
want and misery, without giving to life an 
inner value and a higher aim, we are in 
danger of becoming sentimental and of 
producing inner languor in spite of all outer 
activity. We are often more anxious to 
procure for man a comfortable and pleasant 
life, than to promote inner growth; and our 
care for the weak, which is quite justified, 
leads us to take such weak individuals as 
a criterion and to lower life to their level. 

Modern life often lacks the necessary 
hardness and vigour; in our care for the 
rights of individuals, we are inclined to 
neglect the rights and requirements of the 
whole and also of the spiritual life. So we 
are in danger of losing that which according 
to Goethe, "No one brings with him into 
the world, yet which is all important if a 
man is to become a man in every respect: 
reverence." 



The Present Status 119 

If we review the whole and consider the 
balance of moral profit and loss in our day, 
the result cannot be a favourable one. No 
full substitute is offered for what is lost. 
We have gained in breadth, but we have 
lost in depth and strength. Above all, 
morality is in danger of losing its former 
ruling position, and of having a subordinate 
one assigned to it. It can therefore no 
longer call forth reverence, or be treated as 
an independent aim and ideal. We realise 
at once the gravity of this loss. 

But this unfavourable aspect only holds 
good, if we consider the present time as 
something complete and incapable of further 
development. If, on the contrary, we seek 
to grasp all that is struggling into life, all 
the requirements of our time that yet await 
fulfilment : then the situation is quite different 
and far more favourable. What mainly 
told against morality was the prevalent 
over-estimation of everything pertaining to 
the visible life which surrounds us in nature 
and in human society. The invisible 



120 A Modern System of Ethics 

realms of religion and the ideal have, as we 
have seen, often grown dim and shadowy. 
Many of our contemporaries deny them 
altogether, and look to the visible world for 
full satisfaction of all man's wants, even of 
his spiritual and intellectual requirements. 
This could only appear possible because, in 
reality, the invisible world of spiritual values 
continued to influence even those who denied 
it, and because it supplemented and com- 
pleted the achievements of the visible world. 
It is, however, characteristic of our time, that 
the old fusion is no longer possible, and the 
irreconcilable antithesis between these two 
conceptions of life stands out in bold relief. 
With increasing zeal, the movement in favour 
of the visible world — that is to say, Natural- 
ism — tries to eradicate everything appertain- 
ing to the invisible world, and to fashion 
the whole of life in accordance with its own 
principles. Naturalism tolerates no rival, 
and declares war to the death to Idealism. 
We now see the truth of Bacon's words: 
" Veritas potius enter git ex err ore quam ex 



The Present Status 121 

confusione" (Truth can more easily emerge 
from error than from confusion). For if we 
accept naturalism as the only valid concep- 
tion of life, and develop it consistently in all 
its bearings, we cannot but see its incapacity 
to embrace the whole of life. The apparent 
victory of naturalism thus contains the germ 
of a defeat, the beginning of a great reaction. 
What becomes of man and of human life, 
if the visible world means to him the only 
form of reality? He is then but part of 
nature — dark and soulless nature. The vast 
expansion and range of nature overwhelms 
him with the consciousness of his own in- 
significance, while, at the same time, nature 
is absolutely indifferent to his wishes and 
aspirations. What he makes of himself 
and his life has not the very slightest signi- 
ficance for this world of nature. All aspira- 
tion which transcends his natural instinct 
of self-preservation must appear to be mere 
folly. Such ideals as personality and char- 
acter are but held to be illusions. 

If man turns away from the outer world 



122 A Modern System of Ethics 

and takes refuge in his own sphere, in the 
social life among his fellows, naturalism 
there shows him a mere juxtaposition, but 
no inner community which could offer new 
aims or develop new values. What remains 
is only a number of individuals inhabiting 
the same little corner of the universe. Each 
of these individuals strives to gain recog- 
nition of his own merits, and to assert him- 
self, to the detriment of others. Much 
sordidness and hypocrisy become rampant, 
and it is impossible to counteract them 
within so narrow a range, or to hope for 
the growing up of a nobler and purer race 
of men. The individual remains bound to 
the condition of society, which also deter- 
mines his own nature; he appears to be but 
a product of the social environment. Having 
no deeper source of life within himself, how 
should he be able to escape from the trammels 
of society, to rise above it or oppose it? 
Society and environment thus become the 
destiny of man ; and there is no scope for free- 
dom, for initiative, for independent action. 



The Present Status 123 

If we survey and appreciate all this with 
unbiassed minds, this life must appear 
empty and meaningless and scarcely worth 
living. At the same time, we shall discern 
a development of mankind far transcending 
these narrow limits, as indeed has already 
been pointed out in this our study of morality. 
The degradation of life effected by naturalism 
might be endured in feeble and senile periods 
conscious of no great tasks, but not in our 
time, which teems with stupendous tasks it is 
earnestly striving to carry out. These great 
tasks and problems can only be grappled 
with, if we are fully conscious of concen- 
trated energy and increased spiritual power. 
Modern life has developed in various and 
opposite directions. Its expansion is greater 
than its concentration, and this threatens 
it with disintegration. There is an increasing 
and imperative need of more unity and 
cohesion, of some universal and harmonious 
character of the whole. How should this be 
attained without a vigorous deepening of 
life, without the development of invisible 



124 A Modern System of Ethics 

values? We observe, in our day, the en- 
counter of an older and a newer age, of a 
conception of life hallowed by the traditions 
of history, and a new one that is struggling 
into existence; there is a sharp conflict be- 
tween the past and the present. We cannot 
but admit in the old an imperishable germ 
of truth, and in the new, an inalienable right 
to impress and influence us. We must 
prove and sift, separate and unite. But 
how were any progress in this direction possi- 
ble, could we not find a superior point of 
view, such as can be offered only by a world 
of thought, not by the visible life? This 
problem gains vastly in significance by 
extending to the social life of all humanity. 
We see here a struggle between an older, 
more aristocratic form of society, and a 
newer, more democratic one. This struggle 
engenders violent passions, especially in the 
province of economics. We are here placed 
before a grave question: shall we be able 
to impart the benefits of civilisation to 
all men alike, and thus broaden every in- 



The Present Status 125 

dividual soul, without injury to its inner 
depths? 

These are problems which do not originate 
in ourselves, but which are forced upon us 
by the movement of history. Their very 
necessity bids us hope for progression, in 
spite of all impediments. The power which 
has imposed these problems on us will 
enable us to solve them. But we shall also 
need to put forth our uttermost strength, 
and to quicken all our latent spiritual forces ; 
we must grasp our life as a whole, must 
acknowledge its high aims with all our heart 
and soul, and must find our real self in these 
ideals. Only thus can we gain the sense of 
inner necessity which alone can lead us 
onward. 

In this manner, our aspiration becomes 
closely linked to morality . Let us see wherein 
we have already recognised the quintessence 
of morality. Life and aspiration are de- 
tached from the little Ego, and take root in a 
spiritual world in which we find our own 
essential being, so that while working for 



126 A Modern System of Ethics 

this spiritual world, we are at the same time 
working for our own depth and spiritual 
self-preservation. Such a change and reac- 
tion, such identification with the movement 
of the spiritual life, means only that our 
aspiration has gained a moral character. 
This moral character brings us, at all points, 
into touch with our time. By means of our 
own aspiration, we can now grasp, unite, 
and deepen all the goodwill, genuine feeling, 
and untiring activity of our day, which was 
hitherto inadequate only because it lacked 
inner unity and quickening spiritual power. 

We can thus face the future with courage 
and confidence. Humanity has by no means 
exhausted its vital power; it is full of new 
possibilities which demand realisation; and 
therefore we may expect an inner progression 
of life and a rejuvenation of morality. 

What is true of mankind in general, is 
especially true of America. The multitude 
of grave problems cannot discourage a nation 
which feels in itself so much youthful vigour, 
that it will not submit to a dark fate, but 



The Present Status 127 

is able and ready to mould its own fate, and 
to aspire to yet greater heights than it 
has hitherto attained. But to achieve this, 
moral force is as necessary as unshaken 
confidence in the power of the spirit. We 
believe in a bright future for this great 
country. We believe also in the develop- 
ment in America of such moral strength as 
will successfully overcome all conflicts and 
lead to splendid results, for the benefit 
not only of the American nation, but of all 
mankind. 



THE END 



Works by 

Dr. Rudolf Eucken 

Professor of Philosophy, University of Jena 
In 1908, Dr. Eucken was awarded the 
Nobel Prize for literature. His books have 
been translated into many languages and* their 
influence is widespread. 

Through his sustained and heroic appeal 
to what is most spiritual in man, Eucken has 
ennobled the significance and the mission of 
philosophy. He aims at developing, not a 
new category, but a new culture, and holds 
that it is the privilege of philosophy, by pene- 
trating to what is most inward in human 
nature, to bring a religious inspiration to bear 
upon the problems of the world of human 
labor. Eucken's philosophy is a philosophy 
of life. It is a philosophy of reality as well. 
It treats of the sources of man's strength, and 
the meaning and purpose of his spiritual en- 
deavor. And can there be anything more 
real than the activity of a life that has con- 
sciously realized the true sources of its power 
and the goal of its ultimate aspirations ? 

ffew York G. P. Putnam's Sons London 



Works by Br. Qudolf Eucken 

In the Crown Theological Library Series 

The Life of the Spirit 

An Introduction to Philosophy 

Translated by F. L. Pogson, M.A. 

12°, $150 net By mail, $165 

Second Edition. With Introductory Note by Author 

"Germany has again given us a great constructive philosopher, 

whose influence has gone out through all the thinking world. . . . 

No one can read these powerful pages without understanding that 

a strong thinker has arisen among us, and without enlargement and 

deepening of his own thought." — Congregationalist 

" With Bergson of France, he is the most influential personal factor 
in arming contemporary thinkers for the fray against materialism and 
irreligion." — Christian Science Monitor. 

Knowledge and Life 

12°, 

"No one is having more influence upon the spiritual life and 
religious thought of Europe, at the present time, than Prof. Rudolf 
Eucken. His books ... are making a deep impress upon thinking 
people. ' ' — Christian Work, 



Religion and Life 

16°, Frontispiece* 50 cts, net By mail, 60 cis, 

"The work is able, as may naturally be expected of Prof. 

Eucken. But it is more. The author is very much in earnest 

and he is anxious for men to see the great need of religion in their 

lives. In this book we have the best of his mind and heart/ 

Boston Transcript. 
"The philosophy of Eucken shares with that of Bergson the 
keenest living interest of thoughful men of all classes at the present 
day. • • . Eucken has endeavored in this book to put his constructive 
system into the clearest and most elaborate form/' — Continent 

New York G. P. Putnam's Sons London 



C 



Works by Dr. Itudolf Eucken 

In the Theological Translations Series 

The Truth of Religion 

Translated by W. Tudor Jones, Ph.D. 

Second English Edition* Translated from the Third ana 

Revised German Edition with a special Preface 

by the Author 

8°, $3,50 net By mail, $3, 75 

" When a book of really original thought appears it constitutes an 

epoch in literature. Such a new era is introduced by this work. The 

ideas of Prof. Eucken are startling, and revolutionary in some 

respects, but are at the same time inspiring and reassuring to all the 

essential features of Christianity as the true, the supreme and the final 

religion. ' ' — Watchman, 

Contest for the Spiritual Life 

6°. 
" In Professor Eucken, we have the philosopher as preacher. He 
not only handles life, he would spread, enrich, and fortify it, and he 
is a great force for the restoration of idealism in his own land. He is 
a preacher equipped with philosophy and an inspired lecturer on the 
spiritual life and its integration in the Whole/ ' — The Nation. 



An Interpretation 
of Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy 

By W. Tudor Jones, Ph.D. (Jena) 

12° , With Portrait $150 net By mail, $165 
The main aim of the volume is to present the essentials of Eucken's 
teaching, to show its genesis and growth, its connection with Science, 
Philosophy, Sociology, History and Religion. The whole volume is 
an attempt to present the nucleus of Eucken's teaching, and to show 
its fundamental importance in the individual life, the society and the 
religion of the future. 

New York G. P, Putnam's Sons London 



Only Authorized Edition 

An Introduction to 
Metaphysics 

By Henri Bergson 

Member of the Institute and Professor of the 
College de France 

Translated by T. E. Hulme 

Authorized Edition, Revised by the Author, with 
Additional Material y 

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" I certify that the translation of my volume Introduc- 
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excellently well qualified for his task by the careful study 
that he has made of the whole series of my writings. I 
have examined his translation with care and am able 
to say that it renders with remarkable accuracy the 
thought and the conclusions presented in my volume." 

Henri Bergson. 

This volume forms the best introduction to M.Bergson's 
philosophy. In it the author explains with a thoroughness 
not attempted in his other books the precise meaning he 
wishes to convey by the word intuition. A reading of 
this book is, therefore, indispensable to a proper under- 
standing of Bergson's position. German, Italian, Hun- 
garian, Swedish, and Russian translations of it have 
already appeared, testifying to its intrinsic importance 
and indicating the scope of its appeal. 

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